Skopje, 15 March 2023 (MIA) – Our goal is to create 2,000 new small-scale food producers that will take advantage of the benefits from 2019 in order to register and sell traditional local products, and receive grants, said Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Ljupcho Nikolovski, on Wednesday.

“2023 is a year of a new model of agriculture subsidies, new programs and new opportunities in agriculture, especially when it comes to maintaining and increasing domestic production. This year we’ve created a program for small distilleries and a program for small-scale food producers which will be presented here today and targets youth, women and small producers in rural areas. They will be eligible to receive a grant of EUR 10,000 for the increase and development of production and product branding. The aim of these programs is to create more final products sold directly from the farms to the consumers,” said Nikolovski at the presentation of the new measures in support of small-scale food and beverage producers.

Minister Nikolovski said the Ministry’s goal is to rely on small-scale producers and to expand the success of the existing programs to the new programs and measures.

“The key in 2023 is to focus on the opportunities provided by the IPARD III Programme, for which we are the leaders in the region and an example on how to use the European funds, to incorporate them into Macedonian agriculture and create opportunities and results in the coming years regarding the increase of domestic production and the modernization of the Macedonian farmers,” said Nikolovski. ad/ik/